★★★★★★★ 7/10

A fascinating look at the world of Independent Games Design or better known as Indie Games.  By definition an Indie Game is made by a small team or individual.  They eschew the big publishers like EA or Activation Blizzard and often with a passion that borders on hate.

The documentary focuses on 3 Indie Games and their makers:

1. Super Meat Boy – Edmund and Tommy from Asheville, NC who are hell-bent on making a game for themselves but hopes others will love it too.  These two are the most interesting in the doc.
   
2. FEZ – Phil Fish, who for a period was the “it” guy for Indie Gamers who struggles to bring his innovative game to fruition despite his game being years late. Phil is the mad scientist with a great vision.
3. Braid – Jonathon Blow who despite having a successful game called Braid is more like a tortured artist.  Lamenting even when people love his game, how they don’t understand it the way he does.  Probably the least appealing to watch.  He comes off preachy, going on about not trying to be professional but personal, not a business but an art.
   

All three games are platformers; a game set in a 2 dimensional space and challenges the player to complete the level. Think Donkey Kong. This type of game doesn’t rely heavily on visuals, which would need a larger team.  This doesn’t mean the games are primitive, they are well thought out, complete with brilliant level design and mechanics.

The rise of digital distribution has changed the game industry.  Gone are the limitations of the packaged good game and the massive amount of capital to publish, distribute and sell it.  Today tiny teams can self publish and in some cases see huge critical and commercial success. With no publisher or investors it allows for absolute creative freedom.  The drawbacks are being overworked, stressed and of course financial uncertainty.

It’s a documentary about self-professed artists who despite their claims of building it for themselves and disdaining established publishers take great interest in the acknowledged game industry indicator Metacritic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhaT78i1x2M

Why should the living have all the fun this time of year? Holidays and horror make a great combination and the very best are Scandinavian. Here are some suggestions for this festive time of year!

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale 2010 Finland

Along the Finnish Russian border there lays a mountain above the tree line named Korvatunturi. Mysterious things have happened, since the mining company Subzero Inc. has dug up the mountain. Reindeer are slaughtered, heaters and stoves stolen, and when children go missing… that’s the final straw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RQlikX4vvw

Sint (Saint) 2011 Netherlands

(Not quite Scandinavian but humour me!)

Outfitted like a Catholic Bishop was an evil man named Sinterklaas or Sint for short. He wasn’t nice at all, his Moorish minions would attack seaside towns and demanding gold, silver, meat, virgins, wax and servants. The Moors were named Black Petes and would crash through doors, slither down chimneys and carry off children in sacks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wbkkVezGwc

Låt Den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One In) 2008 Sweden

This Swedish film mixes childhood innocence and vampires in a way that is both horrifying and tender. Thankfully, it’s a unique vampire story that absolutely has no resemblance to Twilight. The film is a beautifully told story with atmospheric visuals and great performances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZJUgsZ56vQ

Død snø (Dead Snow) 2009 Norway

Friends, booze, and a cabin surrounded by a majestic Norwegian landscape. It’s ideal for a bunch of Norwegian medical students to unwind with. Except when they discover hidden Nazi gold. Unfortunately, the last owners haven’t given up their claim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJkd5X2aG34

Trolljegeren (The Troll Hunter) 2010 Norway

Hans is the only hunter of his kind in Norway. Often mistaken as bear poacher, he’s really a Troll hunter. Three journalism students sense a great story with Hans and they follow him into the forest, only to discover that monsters really do exist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLEo7H9tqSM

Okay the last 3 are debatable as holiday and/or Christmas fare, but hey they’ve got snow and blood, so it’s all good!

★★★★★★ 6/10

In the late 14th Century on every December 5th, the land that would become Amsterdam was terrorized by Spanish invaders. Outfitted like a Catholic Bishop was an evil man named Sinterklaas or Sint for short. He wasn’t nice at all, his Moorish minions would attack seaside towns and demanding gold, silver, meat, virgins, wax and servants. The Moors were named Black Petes and would crash through doors, slither down chimneys and carry off children in sacks. Under a full moon, the inhabitants fight back and set ablaze the invader’s ship with all hands on deck. Burning to his death, Sint casts a curse on the townsfolk.

Ever since that night, every 23 years when there’s a full moon on Dec 5th, Sint comes back to wreak death upon Amsterdam. The only thing in question is how big will the body count be?

In Sint’s way is Goert (Bert Luppes) and Frank (Egbert Jan Weeber). Goert is a highly strung cop whose family was slaughtered when he was a child. Obsessed with Sint’s evil ways, he’s vowed to stop him. High school student Frank is drawn into Goert’s plan when he saves him from Sint’s grasp.

This isn’t a true horror film, more like a comedic horror. Special effects and makeup wise it’s pretty average. Sint and the Black Petes are styled like burned out zombies and at no point you’ll find them frightening. The real positive is instead of a cliché psycho terrorizing kids in an isolated place, Sint and his Black Petes are terrorizing the entire city!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wbkkVezGwc

★★★★★ 5/10

I watched this without knowing anything about the movie. I had an inkling this was about some monk getting it on carnally with a village girl.  Nope that was a 2001 film named Samsara as well. This is a movie length trailer for HD Televisions…  well not really but that’s what it felt like. Beautifully captured, breathtaking images are paired with soaring music. Individual scenes are quite extraordinary.  Strung together for and hour and twenty minutes though, this film wears at you.

It’s easy to miss but there is a theme that runs through the film. The term Samsara means the continuous flow of reincarnation into not just other people but other beings… things.  The film will jump from one gorgeous bit of imagery to another with clever connections between them.

Captured in 70mm film, this thing is beautiful and boring at the same time. If you’ve got a new TV and want to show off the picture quality, get this movie to impress friends and family.  As entertainment, some will like this a lot.  For me, I found it difficult to engage with it and eventually fell asleep to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp967YAAdNk

★★★ 3/10

It seems like Zombie entertainment is everywhere.  Quality work too, for me it started with 28 Days Later and has continued to the super enjoyable The Walking Dead series. Zombie 108 is pretty bad and makes Milla Jovovich’s Resident Evil series seem like The Lord of the Rings by comparison.

108 stands for 108 hours before the outbreak.  The counting of hours has little to do with the story. In short, there’s an outbreak in Taiwan spawning zombies throughout the country. It predictably forces the local SWAT forces to team up with the city’s criminal underworld.  The story is similar to La Horde but while La Horde didn’t do anything new, it did do it well.

It’s interesting that an Asian zombie film would have it’s zombies modeled after the western shambling variety. Chinese folklore is full of zombie like monsters, particularly the ones that don’t shamble but hop up and down.  This movie could use some variety, as the entire plot is about running away from zombies.

The first three words that came to mind when writing this review was  “bad zombie acting.” Not surprisingly the human characters are worse.   This film can only be classified as exploitation but that would still be generous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiX1Z2IxCI

★★★★★★6 /10

A short film about local wild berry harvesting in a northern Finnish town called Savukoski. The red and then amber berry in question is called the cloudberry.  It grows in northern climates, can withstand -40 degree Celsius temperatures, and is not unlike a raspberry or blackberry. The berries are only available for a short period and as the years progress an unusual invasion has been set upon the community.

To locals they’re invaders; little more than thieves. Labourers from Thailand are brought in at great cost to strip the wild delicacy for export to Germany and Japan. The locals wouldn’t complain if their local spots were left alone.  Instead they are harvested first.

This short clocks in at 19 minutes but take out the front and back portions, this would at best be 14 minutes.  It’s all mood, long shots and hazy landscapes.  Combined with a somber soundtrack, it feels like a horror film.  It begins with questions but the short length doesn’t allow for any answers or barely the chance to ponder them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQNo-06pEg0

★★★★4 /10

The mullet sporting boys from Maaskantje are back. They’re still living their lives with minimum effort and maximum redneck attitude. They have a new protagonist in Dave from a neighboring town named Schijndel. Equally rednecky and stupid they seek ways to out do each other.

Everything about this movie, screams bigger! There are more guns, tired ejaculation sight gags, bizarre male nudity and a big dose of zombies! Sadly, more is not better. The level of stupidity has been amped up but at the cost of having any semblance of a story. The 2010 New Kids Turbo movie had a plot while this sequel is a loose collection of skits.

While the first one had me laughing all the way though, this film had me lose interest within the first 20 minutes. The boys are still fun, just not in this movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFuGtQ4WHm4